1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to portable structures for use in outdoor sporting activities. More specifically, the present invention relates to a portable enclosure designed and adapted for use in ice fishing, to a method of assembling an outdoor enclosure, and to a kit including a plurality of components, capable of being assembled into an enclosure at an ice fishing site, which is usable to shield the occupants from wind and to ameliorate the harshness of other elements of weather.
2. Description of the Background Art
A wide variety of portable outdoor enclosures are used in an equally wide variety of outdoor sporting activities. Such enclosures range from lightweight hiking tents to large, heavy-duty lodge tents to hunting blinds to ice fishing shanties. Each type of enclosure has evolved to meet the specific needs and requirements of the particular sporting activity.
Because of the harsh conditions in which ice fishing takes place, shelters have long been used by ice fishermen. However, early structures were large, unwieldy wooden framed structures, that were towed out on the ice as an intact body. Although sturdy and somewhat weatherproof, these structures were not easily moved from place to place on a frozen body of water. Further, such structures could not be easily dismantled and moved to other fishing lakes. In keeping with the advent of modern tent technology, ice fishing enclosures now often employ technologies that provide collapsible, lightweight, and portable structures and that provide good protection from the elements.
The background art discloses many different outdoor enclosures of various sizes, shapes, and methods of construction. A primary goal in each of the designs for outdoor enclosures is to offer an effective shelter to protect the occupants from the elements of weather. Below, some examples of known approaches for assembling and fabricating sporting enclosures are described.
Collapsible, foldable, and easily disassembled frame structures are known. Examples of such structures are disclosed in US patents to Beavers (U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,482), Foster (U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,243), and Stumbo (U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,338). Each of these patents show collapsible frames used to support a flexible covering for use as tents, blinds, or other shelters. Beavers and Stumbo each show frames which include support poles extending from a central hub, and Stumbo discloses a frame structure in which includes several sub-frames, each of which supports a portion of a flexible covering.
Many flexible coverings used in known collapsible enclosures are supported by the frame structures to provide the outer shell of the enclosure, and are commonly made of fabric. The flexible coverings normally include at least one door opening and one or more window openings. Window openings may be vacant, or alternatively, may be covered with transparent sheeting, screen, a closeable flap, or combinations thereof. Examples of such coverings are disclosed in US patents to Smith (U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,237) and to Husted (U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,346), which each disclose respective fabric extensions at a lower edge of a covering, for use in securing the covering to the ground.
A variety of approaches have been used in the prior art to stabilize a collapsible enclosure in a desired location, in all types of weather environments. A common strategy is to stake the enclosure to the ground, either by securing a lead line between a buried stake and the enclosure, or by staking the flexible covering directly to the ground. A variety of tent stakes are known, for implantation in a variety of soil types. U.S. Pat. No. D 363,755 to Diederich depicts a tent stake including a threaded shaft.
Of the group of sporting enclosures, ice fishing tents provide features which address the particular requirements of this sport, which is performed in an extreme winter environment. Such enclosures must be able to accommodate high winds associated with broad open expanses of ice, and must protect the sportsperson from the environment. Such enclosures must also be portable, and should be capable of being easily assembled in very cold conditions. They must also provide access to the ice surface from the interior of the structure, while providing environmental protection. A variety of ice fishing tents are known, and examples thereof are found in US patents to Kashuba (U.S. Pat. No. 3,570,507), Klopfstein et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,893), and Thompson (U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,387).
Although the known sporting enclosures and ice fishing shanties are useful for their respective intended purposes, a further need still exists in the art for an improved ice fishing enclosure for use in all normally experienced unfavorable elements of winter weather. In particular, there is a need for an improved ice-fishing enclosure that can be effectively secured to the surface of the ice with a minimum number of attachments, for ease of assembling the enclosure in winter conditions.